


Emily and Penelope Get Revenge

by ShimmeringDarkness



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Emily!Whump, F/M, Hurt Emily Prentiss, Penelope gets revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-02-23 04:54:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23939350
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShimmeringDarkness/pseuds/ShimmeringDarkness
Summary: When Emily fights her way out of a bad situation, who does she turn to for help? Who does she end up with?
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss
Kudos: 28





	Emily and Penelope Get Revenge

_ Crash…. Bang…. Thud…. “Josh No! Please!”.... Smash…. “I’m Sorry, I’ll do better, Please!” Thud… and nothing. _

That’s what someone walking outside of Emily’s apartment would’ve heard, if there’d been anyone around at 10am on a Friday. The team had gotten home from a string of rough cases Thursday night, and Hotch and Strauss had guaranteed them Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. Unfortunately that meant Emily had an extra day with her pissed off, and well honestly abusive, boyfriend Joshua Michaels, that she had met almost a year ago. Technically they didn’t live together, but it was almost always easier to just let him stay when he wanted, which was practically every day, unless she wanted to add to the beatings. He had been one of the nicest, sweetest gentlemen at the beginning and she really liked him, but he turned violent after 5 1/2 months, threatening her whole team if she would try to leave. And besides, she was a federal agent getting her ass beaten every night, how embarrassing was that, they’d never trust her in the field again. Josh’s words rang sharply through her head as she lay unmoving on the hallway floor and tiny bit of blood dripping out of her mouth as she coughed. This had been one of the worst beatings in a while, after she had to go undercover into a club with Derek on the case they just got back from. He had flipped on her and launched straight into beating her without another word, not that she could ever talk back or defend herself anyway. She laid her head on the cold floor gently, trying to relieve some of the pounding.

She heard a phone ring. Knowing she was off, she didn’t bother trying to move to see if it was hers, though the question was answered a second later when she heard Josh in the living room. He heard her get very mad about something before he slammed his phone. She assumed it was work, he was a generally respected lawyer in the DC area, a partner in a smaller, successful firm, though not one of the most famous, most judges in the area respected him and she resigned herself long ago that she would never be able to take legal action, if she could even get away from him at all. She cringed as he pounded towards her and tried to curl up tighter on the ground. He kicked her as he passed her before bending down, grabbing her arm and dragging her roughly across the floor, she winced as she bent around the doorway and she could feel the doorstop cut her side, but managed a vague whimper. He tossed her against the foot of the bed before going into the closet and coming out with…. shit a pair of handcuffs, she didn’t even know where he got them and before she could try and move, yanked her arms behind her and cuffed her to the bedpost, before kicking her in the ribs again and storming back into his closet. He came out with a bag and come clothes and she was very confused when he started stuffing the clothes in the bag until he walked in front of her and snarled, “Some asshole out of state client of mine wants a meeting and Robert (the senior partner), wants me to go right away. Shame I won’t get to stay here with you, but I’m sure you’ll be more than comfortable on the floor there until I get back, where a piece of trash like you belongs anyways.” He kicked the side of her knee making her cry out and he laughed at her before saying, “I should be back Sunday night, at which point you are going to call Aaron fucking Hotchner, and tell him your not going in Monday because you’re sick, and you and me are going to have some fun. Until then, enjoy the next two days sitting in your own piss and shit.” He added with an evil smirk before reaching down and grabbing her jaw very hard and forcing her head back, before making his face as gentle and fake as it was in the beginning and saying “you need to learn from your punishment baby, I don’t like hurting you, you just need to learn the consequences for acting like a slut on your last case.” All Emily could think of was “How did I not see what a fucking psychopath this guy was at the beginning?” but outwardly she only nodded her head and looked away, knowing she wasn’t good enough to make eye contact with him. He grabbed his bag of the bed before kicking her ribs and walking out the bedroom door. She remained tense until she heard the apartment door slam, before she sagged against the bed, her arms uncomfortably cuffed to the pole. 

She sat their wallowing in pity and depression at what her next 2 days were going to be like. She sat for nearly 2 hours, getting slightly dizzy from exhaustion, pain, and quite possible blood loss, as she noticed that blood still seemed to be seeping into her shirt from her side. Knowing she needed to not fall unconscious she racked her brain for how to get out of FBI handcuffs until she remembered, hers were still in her go bag, he had gotten these from somewhere else! Yes! She slowly slid her arms up the pole and managed to pull a bobby pin from her ponytail, before getting to work on the locks. She knew it probably wouldn’t work if they were hers, hers were extra strong with the type of criminals they dealt with, but these seemed to be basic cuffs, and a side effect from her sketchy childhood, one thing she had learned from one of her dealer friends, was how to get out of cuffs, and right now she couldn’t be more thankful. Trying to keep the dizziness at bay she finally managed to click one open, just enough so slide her first wrist out. She wanted to jump for joy, but knew she still needed to get the second one off. She shook her right arm out and slowly shifted her body before getting to work on the 2nd cuff. After about ten more minutes, she was able to pull her left hand free. She slumped against the bed, but a wave of dizziness reminded her she needed to try and bandage her side.

She staggered into the bathroom, fortunately making it without any accidents, and though shocked at the multi inch gash running down her side, slowly worked to clean and bandage it, before dragging herself back to bed and collapsing for a nap. She woke up again at just after 3, her whole body aching and protesting any kind of movement. She pulled herself up and changed shirts, despite the ache in her arms, and using the wall for support, pulled herself to the kitchen table, where she sat to catch her breath for a minute, doing a mental catalogue of if any of her injuries were life threatening. She decided that a cracked rib or two were likely, based on her painful breathing, probably a sprained wrist, maybe some kind of mild concussion, the worst was probably the gash, but as long as it looked like it had started healing by the end of the day it was probably fine. God only knows what Josh would do when he got back on Sunday night though… “Wait, what are you doing Emily,” she scolded herself, “he’s barely let you on your own for anything other than work in months, and you have 2 full days with him gone. Get the hell out of here, pack a couple bags, and LEAVE! Tell the team, they’ll help you. But they’ll make you press charges, and say what happened, and that can’t happen… who should we go see, Garcia. She’ll worry, but she won’t tell the others if I give her a good reason, she won’t make me file a report, I can even just say we’re having a sleepover or something if anyone finds out… yes this’ll work, okay go pack now Emily, you can do it.” She kept up a running commentary as she slowly walked back to the bedroom, less dizzy with the advil she took and the glass of water she had drunk. 

She repacked her go bag, a little fuller than normal, and threw together two more big duffel bags of her most important things in case Josh destroys anything when he gets back. She grabbed a couple of her favorite photos, some important jewelry, a LOT of her clothes, casual, and plenty for work, and a few other things she didn’t want to lose. Finally, she went to her gun safe, slid her gun and holster on, before pulling out the secret false bottom, grabbing the emergency cash Josh didn’t know about, as well as her personal weapon she had from even before the bureau. After a quick look around, and determining she had everything, headed down to her car, and after loading her bags in, and sinking down in the drivers seat, closed her eyes trying to breathe through the pain. She sat there for 5 minutes before putting the car in gear and driving down to Garcia’s apartment. She pulled into an empty spot, did a quick makeup job to make her face look as normal as possible, before grabbing her purse and heading up to Garcia’s apartment, very happy they both had apartment complexes with elevators. She got outside of the door, slightly regretting her decision, but knocking before she had the chance to back away. Penelope pulled the door open and when she saw who it was she looked thrilled. “Oh my brunette beauty, I’m so happy to see you! But what are you doing here?!” She stepped forward to give Emily a hug but Emily stopped her saying, “I tripped on my apartment stairs last night, I was so exhausted so my ribs are a little bruised, so gentle hug please.” Garcia nodded with a concerned pout before gently, not squeezing, Emily into a hug. Emily looked up with an odd face before saying, “Can I come in PG?” Garcia stepped back with a quick nod.

When the door shut, Penelope said “So, what is it you came to the supreme home of technological genius for?” Emily sighed, her face looking exhausted for a minute before shrugging off her purse and settling on the sofa. “A couple things, and please remember, you can refuse any or all of my requests if you like, but I need a couple things.” Penelope nodded slightly concerned, and definitely confused before saying “Okayyy, noted, continue girlie.” Emily looked at her hands before saying “Can I stay with you, just until, say Monday? Though the caveats are if anyone asks if I’m here, I’m not, and you can’t ask too many questions about why I’m here.” Penelope nodded quickly, “Of course you can my beauty, I don’t have a second bedroom though obviously, but if you’re okay with the couch you’re more than welcome until Monday, or longer if you need.” Emily nodded and expressed her appreciation though saying it likely wouldn’t be beyond Monday. Penelope accepted that and said “It sounded like you had more than one thing you required of me though, and from the way you phrased it, not necessarily something I would want to do, sooo?” Emily sighed and nodded before starting out hesitantly, “You’ve often threatened to destroy people’s lives for various reasons, would you ever actually do it?” Penelope looked confused, but thoughtful, and finally said “I suppose I probably would, if someone hurt any of my babies, or someone else I really cared about, why?” Emily let out an exhausted sigh and said, “Then I need you to do it. You can obviously refuse, whether because of the person themselves, or because you need more of a reason than I can give you but… well?” 

Penelope’s perfect eyebrows shot up to her hairline at that request before she disappeared into her bedroom and came back with her laptop. She opened it up and settled it onto her lap before looking at Emily and saying “I have so many questions but I will refrain, and I know you would never ask this if it wasn’t incredibly important so who is the evil soul who must no longer exist princess?” Emily hesitantly looked up, with a grateful smile on her face, and knowing that no one even knew about her boyfriend, quietly spoke “Joshua Michaels.” Penelope scrunched her eyebrows up, clearly recognizing the name, but not sure from where and when she finds a picture of him she gasps, “this is, he’s actually a pretty famous, really good lawyer, he does all this good stuff?” She looked at Emily who was looking at her lap and quietly spoke, “I know, perfect looks, does all this charity, kind personality, I fell for it too, but he’s a monster in person. Maybe don’t destroy his whole existence if you don’t want to? Just make his life difficult for a couple months, bank accounts, his driver's license, license plates, stuff like that, and if you’re really against it, you really don’t have too.” Penelope crinkled an eye brow before saying “I won’t totally destroy his life, just screw with his personal stuff, make it hard to fix everything.” Emily nodded gratefully “Thank you Pen, I know you don’t like the bad stuff of the world, but he, he needs to learn something, and this should teach him that.” 

Penelope typed furiously on her computer for a few minutes before noticing her friend had leaned back and closed her eyes. She looked her over trying to figure out just what this guy had done to her favorite brunette, when she pulled up his social media she gasped startling Emily, she looked back and forth for a minute before saying “Emily, did you date him?” Emily nodded before sighing out “I swear Pen, I’m not just being a jealous ex or something, he, he really deserves this, and more, I swear, I wouldn’t risk you doing this for something that petty.” Penelope nodded, “Yeah, I’m sorry, I know you wouldn’t, it’s just hard for me not to know things.” Emily shot her a small smile when Penelope narrowed her gaze to Emily’s stomach. Prentiss noticed her staring and confusedly asked, “What Pen?” Penelope set her laptop down and reached for Emily’s shirt, before saying “Is that blood?” Emily scrunched her eyebrows before looking down and seeing the bandage must’ve been leaking, that wasn’t good. “Shit” she muttered out before looking up, and asking “Do you have a first aid kit with big bandages?” Garcia jumped up and brought her to the bathroom pulling out a box and saying “Yes, here, Derek made me get one.” Emily smiled and flicked it open pulling out one of the largest bandages and noticing Penelope staring said “You might not want to watch, it doesn’t look good.” She shrugged “You might need help, it’s fine” Emily sighed and pulled up as little of her shirt as possible, trying to hide the old cigarette scars from months ago, and the lines on her back from a knife, when Josh had tried new forms of punishment, secretly though, she was thankful he liked physically beating her over those, it left less permanent marks. 

She pulled her shirt up just high enough to expose the bandage on her side and that was enough for PG to gasp but, taking advantage of the extra hands this time, said, “Um, PG, if you want to stay, can you just hold the shirt here please.” She rushed over allowing Emily to peel the bandage off, quickly cleaning the gash and recovering it, before pulling her shirt back down. Penelope looked up in shock before saying “What happened, that was not from stairs missy, wait, please don’t tell me, was that from Joshua?” Emily looked down but nodded slightly and Garcia’s eyes watered, “Oh, I’m so sorry baby, in that case, I have not done nearly enough to him, but first you need a doctor.” Emily looked up quickly, “No please, if I go to the hospital he might find out, I’ve taken care of myself before.” Penelope shook her head vehemently, “Nope, I do not care, I will be with you the whole time, and you will be safe, and I don’t care if you’ve taken care of things like that before, that’s what doctors are there for, and you need stitches, or I can call a certain unit chief you’ve been crushing on, I know.” Emily shook her head but acquiesced, not wanting the team to know, saying “Fine, WE will go, and YOU will not tell any of the team, Hotch, Derek, got it?” Penelope nodded and after shutting up her apartment, took Emily to her car, and drove them to the hospital.

They went to the receptionist and after Emily begged her to let her tell a story, had agreed that it was simply a classified mission. The receptionist looked up, noticing a impressive woman with a FBI badge and a colorful woman next to her, also with FBI credentials sticking out of her purse, being near Quantico, that wasn’t unusual, and she was ready for a string of unanswerable questions that her boss never understood why they were blank. But, she’d try. “Hello agents, how can I help you?” The blond looked confused and the receptionist smiled “Your badge and credentials, being near Quantico it was a likely assumption.” The brunette nodded and spoke “Right, my name’s Agent Emily Prentiss, BAU, FBI, um we got into a bit of an altercation, a classified accident, and I need stitches, we tried bandages for a couple hours but it’s still bleeding.” “Thank you Agent Prentiss, I’m guessing any questions and forms will be covered in classified answers, so if you could just take a seat and the doctor will call you in a moment.” Emily blushed and said “Yes, sorry, hazard of the job, I suppose it makes yours harder though, thank you ma’am.” The receptionist watched the interesting pair of agents take a seat, and privately assumed the colorful one was likely not a field agent, while the other clearly was. She smirked as she thought about how she’d tried to bandage it, and only after it had been bleeding for hours, had she decided she needed stitches. She loved her job here, it always entertained her slightly to watch the young residents and interns trying to work with federal agents. And maybe it was just the air of DC but she knew DC police were just as bad as the feds when trying to keep them out of work to recover, and only slightly better in revealing unclassified information. She snorted as she thought that practically anything hospital worthy for feds was classified. It made for amusing breakroom stories as doctors hypothesized about hilarious criminals hat could’ve led to some of the injuries. Like any good receptionist though, she knew more than most of them usually, because while they tried to pry information from their patients, she listened to the team members of the patient, or their bosses trying to figure out who hurt their agent, who were much less tight lipped when they didn’t think people were listening and they were trying to solve cases.

Emily was called back quickly, and Garcia came with her, looking mildly uncomfortable because she’d had to take Emily’s gun, but no one would be the wiser she was sure, and after her whole stalker date gone wrong, Derek had strongly encouraged, well forced her, into learning enough gun and shooting basics to defend herself, much to her displeasure, though she understood the reasoning. He had actually worked with her, and with Hotch’s help, all the way to a government agent’s carry permit, though she didn’t have her own gun still, it covered them just in case, and made it so in scenarios like the one she was in now, well in real cases but similar scenarios, she could take an injured team members gun in the hospital if the rest of the team was in the field, and in an emergency, they would have a gun there. For now though, it sat safely in her purse while the doctor talked to Emily and did a brief exam, and to give her favorite brunette some privacy, distracted herself with her phone.

Emily was not happy, as many agents would be, sitting on the hospital bed talking to a doctor about what was wrong with her. When the doctor got to doing a quick look for herself before she stitched Emily’s side up, she paused at the obvious scars on her back. Thinking up a quick lie when she felt her pause, Emily spoke quietly “Just worry about fresh injuries, I know they look awful, it’s still mostly a classified case but the basics are me and a team member were kidnapped by a religious cult leader, tortured for a couple days, scars resulted. For today I think I might have a cracked rib, plus the cut, if you can check I think my knee is fine but it’s a little sore, and obviously a shit ton of bruises, I really need to stop getting kidnapped, honestly,” She muttered the last part as though to herself, but wanting the doctor to hear it to help hold up her everything is classified I can’t tell you story. The doctor just nodded her assent and pulled over a portable x-ray, quickly checking her ribs and knee before speaking. “Okay Agent, you have 2 cracked ribs, but they’re minor, nothing I can really do about that, ice and ibuprofen, you know the drill based on your file, your knee is a little bruised, slightly swollen, looks like it just got pushed a little too far, again, ice, rest, the basics. Now if you can sit up and we will take a look at this cut.” Emily pushed herself up from where she was laying and pulled her shirt up, still keeping most of her stomach hidden. The doctor removed the bandage and said “My goodness, this is going to be 7 or 8 stitches I would guess, it's pretty deep, I’m sorry.” Emily just shook her head, “It’s fine, not a big deal, just stitch it up please.” The doctor nodded and got back to work. The doctor also did a concussion test because she had noticed the Agent acting like she had a headache. After 10 more minutes she was done with everything and addressed Prentiss. “Alright Agent Prentiss, I already went over your knee and ribs, you’re all stitched, come back in 5-7 to get those out. I believe you do have a very mild concussion, so it would be good if you could stay the night with someone to wake you up every two hours and check.” Emily nodded “Oh yeah, I’m staying with her, she’s a teammate and the whole team’s used to taking care of each other, it’s all good.” The doctor nodded, “Very good you should stay off work for 2-3 days just for the concussion and desk work for 3 weeks with the stitches and your ribs, alright?” Emiyl nodded with no intention of following that directive “That’s fine Doctor, we have a bit of a break anyway after some hard cases so that’s not a problem.” The doctor nodded “Then you just need to sign your discharge forms and you’ll be good to go.” Emily gave her a smile and slowly stood up, very aware she was in need of more advil.

Emily dropped on to the couch as soon as they got back to Garcia’s apartment, ready to sleep the rest of the week away. The two relaxed with some unhealthy food and the TV, Garcia momentarily having her questions satisfied as she knew Emily wasn’t in danger really anymore according to the doctor, and she had pried enough details out on the car ride home to satisfy herself that she hadn’t unjustly ruined someone online, while knowing Emily didn’t want to reveal too much. The two had a relatively relaxing weekend and Penelope had convinced Emily to open up to her at some point Sunday morning, so PG knew as soon as Emily got really tense and was stressing every time she looked at her phone that night, that this Joshua had gotten home and was none too happy his girl had escaped. She snorted at that thought and took Emily’s phone, getting his phone number, and then destroying his phone remotely, she may have just changed around a bit of the programming to basically tell the phone to eat everything in it’s memory, including basic operating software, thus rendering his phone useless, and at least temporarily, though she would keep doing it until he got the message if necessary, severing his connection to the beautiful, slightly scared woman in her living room.

Monday morning came, and though Emily’s concussion was most certainly cleared up, she still had 2 cracked ribs, oh yeah and 7 stitches in her side, but Garcia could not convince the woman to call in sick. Emily flat out refused saying she’s worked with worse and no one’s noticed, and she’ll be careful, but she would have to tell the team she got hurt and reminded Garcia all the lies and hoops she worked around so the team wouldn’t know. Little did Garcia know, Hotch was already on her side, and was actually hoping to get a call from his profiler calling in sick, but not totally expecting it. He had been shocked to say the least when he got an email on Sunday evening from Washington General Hospital. It contained a standard medical report concerning one of his team members, nothing out of the ordinary on his team unfortunately. The problem was, he didn’t remember any of his agents getting hurt, and there was no reason to wait until Sunday afternoon to get checked out, even if someone had. Thus bringing him to his current pondering as he waited to see if Emily Prentiss would show up, or call in sick. He had opened up the medical report, but within the first page it was obvious these injuries were not from a recent case, though it had been an emotional battering, and maybe a bruise or two from the unsub’s takedown, which Emily had participated in, nothing was even close to giving her those injuries. Though in the portion of how the injuries were obtained it simply said ‘Federal Agent - Case - Classified’ which made him curious, but very concerned why she needed to hide what happened. He read on to the injuries and was honestly shocked at what he read, and more than a little concerned for his agent that he might possibly be starting to have feelings for. It listed: 2 cracked ribs (very small cracks, no bracing required, ice and ibuprofen as needed, rest as needed), mild concussion (should be completely cleared in 2-3 days), Inflamed tendons of the knee (Though no visible extensive injuries, clearly took major fore, very swollen and bruised, ice and ibuprofen for swelling, rest as needed) and finally, the one the shocked him Vertical Laceration on Right side, requiring 7 stitches (Chief complaint of patient, Agent Prentiss explained that she came in because it hadn’t stopped in nearly 6 hours since incident, even with clearly well applied bandages. Stitches should be removed in 1 week. Caution in movements recommended especially when coupled with cracked ribs).

Hotch could only stare at his laptop wondering what on earth his agent could have gotten herself into. He read through the rest of the file that would have been placed in her medical file at the hospital, and sent home with her. He read through the Care Instructions and the Summarized Findings and Notes for Supervisor section that only he got in this report. There it detailed anything the doctor wanted sent directly to him as an Agent, but didn’t necessarily need to include in her medical file, or paperwork she went home with. There was usually where he got the most valuable information after a case injury for someone in his team, the doctor would highlight the things he needed to know to make sure they healed and were okay. She wrote: “SAC Aaron Hotchner,

On a non-medical note, your Agent is a truly impressive woman, barely flinching at extensive injuries, and is obviously incredibly strong both mentally and physically. I have seen many agents come into our ER, and my late brother was FBI, so I like to take as many of the agents that I can, a way of giving back somewhat, but your agent is truly remarkable. Even I flinched at some of the past scars on her back, and when she noticed, she simply brushed it off as nothing remarkable or out of the norm, and I can guarantee medically, they hurt like nothing else. On an odd note, some scars she bears appear to be possibly cigarette scars, I just wanted to make you aware if you weren’t already as I’m sure something like that may be classified, but they’re a non traditional scar and may suggest some type of abuse, but I wanted to make you aware. In regards to her concussion, she mentioned that she had a bit of time off, so that should likely be cleared up by the time she returns to work, and I am comfortable that until then, she said she should be fine as she is staying with a teammate who can wake her up. Her ribs should be a few weeks of healing but there is no reason she can’t be on light duty for the approximately 3 weeks it takes. The swelling in her knee should be gone by the time her stitches have been taken out as well. Also, please let her know that when she gets her stitches removed I would like to do it if I’m on duty so I can check the extensive bruising wrapping her abdomen.

Sincerely,

Dr. Katherine Becker M.D.”

He had leaned back in his office after reading just thinking, wondering just how much Emily was hiding from them, from their family, it worried him.

Hotch pulled himself back into the moment in his office looking out over the bullpen. He sees Garcia come in, followed by Emily, fuck. He can tell from here she’s got a slight limp going and her arm is wrapped subtly around her stomach, no doubt trying to brace her ribs. Not wanting to be cruel and make her get up after getting seated, he closes his blinds on the way to the door and sticks his head out making his voice as gentle as he can, not wanting to display the fantastic level of anger he’s feeling to the whole team “Hey, Prentiss, my office please.” She sighs and drops her bag at her desk to teasing looks from Morgan about what trouble she got into in the first 5 minutes of the day, she glares at him and trudges up the stairs to his office. He’s leaning against his desk with his arms crossed, but instead of moving behind his desk, gestures her over to the sofa against the wall of his office while he takes a chair. She doesn’t know why he chose to do that but as it’s more comfortable for her ribs, she couldn’t care less. 

Hotch lets her settle herself on the sofa before taking a seat himself and after taking a breath says “Anything important happened this weekend you need to tell me about Prentiss?” He can see as she visibly freezes for a millisecond and wonders if she’ll cave that quick but her face goes as stoic as his and she shakes her head “No sir, nothing important, Josh went out of town for work so I visited with Penelope.” She decides to throw a question back at him to see how much he actually knows “Did something happen, Sir?” She says looking the picture of unknowing innocence. Hotch’s heart clenches briefly at the woman so desperate to hide whatever happened that only he can see the micro twitches in her face and body displaying how uncomfortable she is, but knowing he needs to address her injuries, presses on guiltily. “Yes, I believe something did, I got an email from a Dr. Becker at Washington General hospital, sending me my agent’s medical report from her classified accident in the field. The only problem, Prentiss, is that no one got physically hurt on the last case, and we weren’t on a classified case on Saturday. I’m going to forget you forgot that if you get hurt in the field as an FBI agent, your medical report gets sent to your immediate superior. I wouldn’t have known anything, if you hadn’t claimed a classified FBI case as the cause, so Prentiss, I would like an explanation, please, in addition to addressing the fact that you are supposed to be on light duty for the next 3 weeks, because of having 2 cracked ribs.” Her mouth opened and closed before she sighed and said “I don’t know, I’m sorry Hotch, I was going to tell you about the restricted duty, I swear.” He can tell she has no clue what to say so he acknowledges her with a question of his own “Since I’m guessing the classified information was a ruse so no one would bug you about what happened, what exactly were you planning on telling me.” She looked at her lap before mumbling “That I tripped on my apartment stairs, my boyfriend took me to the hospital to get checked out, and I needed to be on light duty for 3 weeks because I cracked 2 ribs.”

Hotch gave he a long look and said, “So you had no intention of mentioning the concussion and stitches?” “No, Sir” she replied looking guiltily at her hands.

They sit in silence for a moment before Hotch speaks gentler this time, “Emily?” She looks up at her first name and he speaks again “You look scared, please, what happened? Who did that to you?” She shakes her head and shrugs looking at her lap. “Emily, you do know. Please, no one’s judging you. Who were you staying with for your concussion?” “Penelope.” “Does she know everything?” Emily nodded slightly and Hotch spoke “Did she judge you?” Emily shook her head so he spoke “Do you really think I would judge you?” Emily just looked at her hands and he felt his heart almost break. “You think I would judge you? For anything?” Tears slowly dripped out of her eyes as she fought them back, and she mumbled something but he had no clue what she said. “What?” He asked she spoke slightly more audibly but he still had to strain too hear it “Every guy always does, no matter what I do it’s always my fault, I always deserved it, and I know that, but I didn’t think I could handle it if you guys said that too.” He changed his seat so he was next to her as his heart cracked wide open, “I would never judge you, you don’t need that and you don’t deserve that. And if someone did all this to you and told you you deserved it they’re even more in the wrong. You are smart, beautiful, strong, and one of the best people I know.” “No, I’m not, he has to be right, they wouldn’t all have said it if it wasn’t true.” “What did they say was true?” “I’m ugly, fat, a slut, everything, I’m such a screw up even my own mother hated me for the first 25 years of my life.” “No, no, no you are not Emily Prentiss, you’re absolutely gorgeous, we spend way too much time on the job for you to even think about being a slut and hitting clubs every night, and that was your mother’s mistake, she didn’t hate you, she just wasn’t ready to be a good mother I think, but she’s changed, realized  _ her _ mistakes, and is trying to make up with you. I thought you had gotten closer?” “Yeah I guess we have”

They both went silent for a moment unsure where to go next when Emily spoke again “But how can any of that not be true, every boyfriend I’ve ever had has said all of those and more, why do I deserve all the psychotic assholes? Why can’t someone actually care about me for real, not because it’s a front to trap me?” She let out a little cry at the end before sitting upright out of Hotch’s comforting hold and she realized everything she’d just said “I’m so so so sorry Hotch, I swear I didn’t mean to dump that emotional mess in your lap, I think everythings just all swirled up right now because I’m finally getting away from Josh, but a part of me still thinks he’ll go back to the way he was at the beginning. I’ll get out of your hair now, I’m sure you have better things to be doing.”

He interrupted her apology, “No, no I don’t”

She tilted a confused face at him so he elaborated “No, I don’t have something better to do that comfort a woman I care deeply about who feels like everything is all messed up, that if I’m honest I’m pretty sure I love. You can have that Emily, someone that actually cares about you, it’s not a front, and it’s not a trap, and if you ever give me a chance, now, or two years from now, I will spend the rest of my life proving that to you.”

Her jaw dropped and she just stared trying to put her thoughts in order before finally speaking “Hotch, Aaron, I’m pretty sure I’ve been a little in love with you since my first day, but you were always off limits if not for one reason than another, and I couldn’t ever picture someone like you, someone so pure, so… purely perfect, wanting a mess, a wreck like me, I’m terrible at relationships, enough failed, abusive relationships and you can’t trust anyone, add that to my childhood, you don’t deserve any of that, and of that doubt, that fear, that mistrust, because God I love you, I fought that feeling so hard and it just came back every time, but eventually I  _ WILL _ screw up, I WILL accuse you of something absurd, that you would never do, I will never be able to fully trust someone I don’t think, can you seriously deal with that kind of train wreck?”

Hotch pulled her into his side before saying, “Yes, Emily, I can, you don’t get to decide what I can and can’t handle, and you are not a trainwreck, but even if you are, you’re not the only one here, I already have one relationship destroyed, a son with a mother that my job stole from him, and a shit ton of baggage from my childhood, I know everyone’s speculated some, and I didn’t move around the world every year, but it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows either. I’m willing to try this Emily, if you are, I will prove every day to you that I can handle you, and anything you throw at me, I will prove to you that you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, that you  _ are _ perfect.” She leaned into his arms and said “I want that, I really do, but Aaron, you guys don’t know half of my past.” “Then I want to learn it all.” He said it so calmly, with such finality, as if it was a given, like he would obviously want to learn more about her, and maybe to him it was, but to her, it wasn’t, it was new, and she liked it. She liked it enough to whisper out, “Josh, it was Josh.” She felt his hands clench around her and she pushed herself out of his hold with a great shove, shocking him with her reaction. When she realized what she did, she started crying again, and he was quick to, gently, wrap his arms around her and assure her he would never, ever, hit her, no matter how mad, that wasn’t something he would let himself do, and that she would always be safe in his arms. After she was calm again he said “What is this Josh’s last name, he and I need a little discussion.” She was quick to sit up and stop him, saying, “No, this is never going to work if you try to be controlling and overprotective. You have to let me handle my own battles, because I can. And if I can’t, a little Penelope super power magic and problem solved. There’s a reason I went to her and no one else on the team this weekend, sometimes, her revenge, is exactly the kind that’s needed.” Hotch nodded, knowing he was not willing to lose her this fast, and having always liked how strong she was, not doubting Penelope’s, or Emily’s abilities to get revenge.


End file.
